Ausdroid Fathers Day 2016 Gift Guide

Mum, you had your go, now it’s time to show Dad some love. Next Sunday is Fathers day so it’s time to get to the shops and get Dad something nice – no, not socks or jocks, time for something cool!

As usual we’ve put together a list of the best gifts a tech loving dad could ask for. We’ve aimed high and low in terms of price so there’s something for everyone here – we hope.

Google Play Vouchers – $20, $30 or $50
If you’re stuck for gift ideas, from $20 you can give dad a gift card so he can grab a game, movie, book, magazine or maybe pay some off his Google Play Music subscriptions. The gift cards fit nicely into a card to give dad on Sunday morning too.

Google Cardboard headset – from $19.95
Dad’s love cool stuff and if he hasn’t tried out Google Cardboard yet, this is a great gift. Cardboard is low-cost and even though you can get them from just under $5 delivered from China, you’re a bit late to order those, so you can order with overnight delivery from just $19.95 + delivery from the Ausdroid store.

If you want something slightly higher end, grab the Mattel View Master it’ll set you back about $50 from various retailers like Myer but it’s worth it for a better experience.

Cardboard is a gateway to Google’s Daydream VR system, so get him hooked early ;).

Chromecast Audio or Chromecast 2 – $59
Google launched their new Chromecast earlier this year alongside the Chromecast Audio. Both are selling for $59 and make a decent gift with a tonne of uses.

The Chromecast 2 comes with better Wi-Fi and a great new design. Even though they’re designed to go behind the TV a Coral (red) or Lemonade (Yellow) one ordered from the Google Store – where these colour options are stocked as an exclusive – would be a great gift.

Google’s Chromecast Audio dongle is the best thing since sliced bread as far as we’re concerned. The dongle connects to just about any speaker with a 3.5mm, Optical or RCA input, turning even the oldest of speakers capable of using those inputs an internet enabled sound machine.

There’s a bonus offer for 2 months of Spotify Premium to be claimed with the Chromecast or Chromecast Audio dongle, so it’s worth a look as well.

Speakers – From $199
For the most part we’re big fans of music – or listening to podcasts – here at Ausdroid, so we’re naturally drawn to speakers. We’ve got two speakers we reviewed and loved this year, so depending on what you want to spend, you should check these guys out.

The Sony SRS-XB3 speaker has great bass, NFC touch to pair and great battery life. Duncan’s review sold it for many people when he attached a Chromecast Audio to it (but you can do that with most Bluetooth speakers), but he also loved that funky green colour it comes in.

A big battery life, lets you take your speaker with you and pump out tunes at a picnic or annoy your co-workers with your terrible taste in music. It’s a great little speaker, so well worth checking out.

If you really want to step up the sound in your house, or at your next party the versatile LG X-Boom Freestyler can be the life of your dads next party. It’s more than a bluetooth speaker, adding in options to connect via RCA, USB or just tune in FM Radio.

It’s an expensive option, but adds a deeper sound and thanks to dual 8” sub woofers it gives much bigger bass, and has a bunch of pre-sets to get the party going.

Speaking of parties, the 64 inbuilt lights can flash and give a great light show, or flash in tune with the beat. Or, how about Karaoke? There’s mic inputs and the option to mute, or at least drop the existing vocals down means you can have a great Karaoke comp

At $500+ it’s a big speaker so you may want to make sure it fits in with Dad’s plans for his home entertainment needs.

BB8 – Sphero Droid – from $220
This IS the droid you’re looking for if your dad is as Star Wars obsessed as we are. App controlled from his smartphone and just as cute as the droid introduced in the Force Awakens, BB8 can zoom around the house annoying mum, the cat/dog and the kids or just watching and reacting to The Force Awakens as he watches it.

Android Wear Watch – From $400
It’s over a year old, but our love affair with the Huawei Watch continues. From about $400 in Australia you can get the Huawei Watch from a retailer – although if you love dad a heap you can go a lot higher with the right colour/band combo. We loved the watch when we reviewed it, so grab one and he’ll love it.

The other watch to keep an eye on is the Polar M600 – it’s one of the newest Android Wear watches to hit the market in Australia and it’s very sports focused. If your dad is a keen walker, runner or cyclist then he’ll definitely be familiar with the Polar brand and it looks set to be a great choice – and at $499 it’s sure to show dad you love him.

A new tablet – Huawei MediaPad – $available on plan from Vodafone with 4G
Whether it’s reading an eBook, a newspaper or magazine, or even kicking back with the latest Game of Thrones or Downtown Abbey, a good tablet is a thing of joy. The Huawei MediaPad M2 is a great little 8” tablet that will satisfy even the pickiest of dads.

The tablet has a great design, hardy internal specs and it’s fairly light in the hand. You can read our review here

A new phone – how much do you love dad? 😉
This year you are absolutely spoiled for choice. Samsung’s Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge are phenomenal and the the LG G5 (and Friends) and the HTC 10 are all great phones. It’s splitting hairs as to which is best as they all do something absolutely well – of course the big new kid on the block is the Galaxy Note 7 –

You can read the reviews for the phones here, but maybe take mum past a phone shop this week and see what she thinks:

The Roboking Turbo + HomeView can be operated wtih the Smart ThinQ app available from Google Play. It lets you operate the robot vac yourself, or it can mosey around the house vacuuming up any mess on automatic mode.
A sentry mode lets you monitor up to 5 areas of your house, so you can maintain your tin-foil hat status while you’re away knowing your sentry bot is on duty.

There we go, something for just about everyone there, you should be able to find mum something to enjoy – and don’t forget the breakfast in bed. If your dad is no longer with us we hear you.

Daniel Tyson Editor

Dan is a die-hard Android fan. Some might even call him a lunatic. He's been an Android user since Android was a thing, and if there's a phone that's run Android, chances are he owns it (his Nexus collection is second-to-none) or has used it.

Dan's dedication to Ausdroid is without question, and he has represented us at some of the biggest international events in our industry including Google I/O, Mobile World Congress, CES and IFA.